X-Men drop second straight game to Huskies

HALIFAX, NS – Johneil Johnson (Lake Echo, NS) scored 21 points and led the SMU men's basketball team to a 96-87 win over the StFX X-Men on Saturday night from Homburg Centre.

The Huskies win their sixth game in a row while StFX have dropped two straight games, both to the same Huskies squad.

SMU led 27-14 after the opening 10 minutes as Johnson and StFX's Avan Nava (Mississauga, ON) led their squads with eight points each in the first quarter.

The Huskies outscored StFX 27-21 in the second quarter and SMU led by 19 points at half, 54-35.

The X-Men outpaced SMU by six in the third quarter and trailed the Huskies after 30 minutes by a 76-63 margin.

StFX battled back in the final frame and chipped away at SMU's lead, outscoring the Huskies 24-20 in the quarter, but Saint Mary's held on for the 96-87 victory.

Nava led all scorers with 35 points on 6-10 shooting from three-point land for the X-Men. Justin Andrew (Hamilton, ON) recorded a double-double with 16 points and 12 assists, while Azaro Roker (Nassau, Bahamas) also added a double-double on 13 points and 18 rebounds. Dondre Reddick (Antigonish, NS) added nine as StFX falls to 10-9 on the season.

Qyemah Gibson (Nassau, Bahamas) had 16 points for SMU while Travis Adams (Halifax, NS) added 15 and Kordeiro James (Woodbridge, ON) finished with 11. Donate Mitchell (Vaughan, ON) chipped in 10.

The Huskies improve to 11-8 in Atlantic University Sport action.

The AUS regular season ends next week with SMU on the road February 19 versus Acadia and Cape Breton visiting StFX February 21. Both games are worth four points in the standings.

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Courtesy Dominic Nolasco, SMU Sports Information